Centre to invoke ’96 Act to ensure tribals’ right to forest produce

This despite the fact that the PESA Act granted tribals the ownership of MFPs in such areas. These mechanisms have replaced free trade system and suppressed prices with no regular upward revision of the forest produce.

“The state governments have not been sincere in implementing the provisions of the PESA Act. Periodic attempts of Union Government to impress upon the states to implement the Act in right spirit has not resulted in any degree of success either. On the contrary,state governments argue that their mechanisms are aimed at helping the tribals,” Sudha Pillai,Member-Secretary Planning Commission,told The Indian Express. “Fact of the matter is tribals are short-changed in the process. We are not a banana republic and we are going to implement PESA. If they don’t implement,the Centre has the right to direct states to do so under the provisions of the Act. This is what we are thinking now.”

In the backdrop of government’s intent to tackle the Naxal menace in tribal regions of the country,the move is necessitated by Central government’s realisation that dismantling the state governments’ mechanisms would help improve tribal income and livelihood directly by eliminating intermediaries like state forest departments or their various agencies.

The move is also an attempt to break the exploitative relation between tribals and forest produce purchasing contractors and also to hit at the nexus between the Naxals and the contractors in form of Naxal’s levy collection from contractors on the pretext of monopoly rights given to contrators by state governments.

With the issue having been discussed at one of the recent meetings of the Cabinet Committee of Security,the proposed step holds significance in view of the fact that over 50 per cent of forest revenues and about two-third of forest export income is derived from MFP.

The restoration of tribals right over items like bamboo,saal seeds and tendu leaves among many others is expected to enhance income in tribal regions and empower them to engage gainfully with formal economy and connect to the mainstream.